Laurentien Pencil Crayons

Although Laurentien (then spelled Laurentian) pencil crayons were made in Canada right from the start, The Venus Pencil Company Ltd. also marketed the same pencils under the brand name ‘Paradise’ in the United States. Both brands were developed for Colour-By-Number kits, and they both kept the same colour names and numbering system. This would explain some of the more exotic colour names like “#2 Sarasota Orange”and “#4 Hollywood Cerise.”

During the 1960’s, a couple of Canadian innovations were made: The packaging was changed to the portable vinyl pouches, and space for labeling on the pencil was introduced to deter theft from classmates.

In 1972, a year before Faber-Castell bought Venus, the French spelling “Laurentien” was trademarked in an attempt to increase sales in Quebec.

Sanford acquired the brand in 1994, and in 2001 they changed the packaging and discontinued the vinyl pouch. The Laurentien website states that the move back to the cardboard box was motivated by the fact that “consumers were more likely to put the coloured pencils in their own pencil case,” however it is possible that the issues of cost and PVC’s recent bad press played a factor as well.

Nevertheless, aside from some minor name changes to several of the colours, the pencils themselves still retain their iconic design.

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Justin
September 24th 2009

I miss these. I remember them being much less likely to break during sharpening than the Prismacolor pencils that are more widely available (at least in the US). I miss them, but hopefully Venus still markets them.

My kids always wanted new pencil crayons every year, so sometimes they ended up with a cheaper lesser quality brand when someone else took them shopping. They always met with disappointment as the leads kept breaking or the colours weren’t vibrant enough. Laurentian was always and still is my preference. I’m sure I still have a couple of stubs laying around from when I was a child. Keep up the high quality.

Love them! I still have them and they bring back awesome memories from my time in the Canadian public school system.

jim u
September 30th 2009

I’ve always loved them. they should make them manditory as they were the root for some great creativity in my school years. they’re much cheaper now than how i remembered them. i bought the complete set at walmart just to re-live the excitement of having them. that is how the photo came about.

While red and blue pencils are a sublime and beautiful example of the pencil maker’s art, other colour leads can be combined though the same process for an amazing result.

Colleen is a company we’ve mentioned many times. With leadership f…

Sharon.hatch
October 15th 2009

Laurentian pencil crayons have always been the best quality and have been the suggested brand to get for school supplies at the schools I have taught and also have been a student at for a combination total of more than 45 years. The last two years I have been so disappointed in the sharpening quality. They break easily or cannot sharpen evenly. They do not last at all no matter which type of sharpener is used. I really hope this can be rectified.

Brian Goguen
November 18th 2009

I`ve been a long time customer & to my disappointment I complained to the website about a big pack of pencil crayons that I purchased that were defective a month ago and got absolutely no response. So I`m done buying them I guess. No point of offering a Contact Us link if you are not going to respond. They don`t care about their customers. I`m 51 yrs. and have been using them since I was a kid. Very sad really.

Debbie
January 20th 2010

We have always preferred Laurentien to other brands as they give such smooth coverage, but have recently been disappointed with the lack of selection of reds. There are only two to speak of (even in a package of 70), and neither is a deep, rich red. Oh, for a true, deep, blood red…

Rowena Swahn
March 12th 2010

I love these pencil crayons and have since I was a child (10), am now almost 63. I volunteer at the local school every day in the Gr.1 class and notice the wood on the pencils seems hard to sharpen, often sharpening on one side only.The gold and silver colors often fall completely out of the wood-last year 3 children had this problem.What can be done? Parents are paying dearly for these pencil crayons, and some are lasting a very shor ttime.

b
August 29th 2010

you describe the sharpener ptoblem, not the pencil.

Peggy
September 19th 2010

I still have my last package of Venus Canada – Laurentien pencil crayons from when I was in school which seem to be better quality then the ones made in recent years. We still always look for that brand for our kids now. I’ve tried crayola but they always break easily, not so with the Venus brand. Trying to find them this year was difficult as very few stores were carrying then. Are they going out of business? If so are there any other brands of the same quality?

Cindy
November 22nd 2010

I have strong memories of Laurentian pencil crayons, both from my own youth & because of buying new ones every year for my children. Certain colours are best described to people by naming the colour # of a Laurention pencil crayon and everyone knows!!!
I tried to find them this September & again in November with no luck!
What is going on??

Georgina
August 4th 2011

hi i was woundering why i connot find any laurentien products i live in canada and i was able to buy these last year with 2 childern in school i prefer to buy these over other brands .

Sophie
August 12th 2011

I can’t find these pencil crayons anywhere to! I really would like to buy them….anybody no where I can get them?

I too have been unable to find Laurentien pencil crayons. Want to guy them for my grandchildren as they are reasonably priced and are the only ones worth using. They are far superior to all the other brands available in the stores. I’m so disappointed that a great product is now unavailable for us. Does any one know why this is happening?????

Sharon R
August 17th 2011

Are these superior quality pencil crayons available anywhere? I work for Staples and know we have not had them for about 2 years now. Where can I get them for my grandchildren and our classroom?

Tina G
August 18th 2011

The school supply list is asking for laurentian pencil crayons and I haven’t been able to find them anywhere, I’ve tried Walmart, Staples, Zellers and other smaller stores, they are great quality , I used them when I was a child and that’s a very long time ago. Does anyone know where a person could buy them ?????

Tanya
August 21st 2011

HI all… Sad news guys… Laurentian pencils have been discontinued. They are suggesting crayola ones, but the better quality ones are Staedler. They only sell packs of 24 though

Arlene
August 21st 2011

where can I buy Laurentian pencils, I live in Burnang, B.C. Canada

lorraine kaizer
August 25th 2011

i cannot find the laurentien coled pencils anywhere. i live in nova scotia,lunenburg county.b0j3m0.box 80, western shore. can you help me?thank you.

Trish
August 25th 2011

I’ve been looking all over and can’t find Laurentien anywhere. The kids hated the Crayola ones I bought last year – they said they broke too easily, they break even while you’re sharpening them.
I’ve been told Laurentien is no longer being made – whoever made that decision should reconsider, because there are a lot of us that are willing to pay for the quality that Laurentien used to give us.

Laura
August 26th 2011

THey have apparently been bought out by RubberMaid and discontinued. GONE……no more Peacock Blue or Poppy Red. They probably let the quality go by the wayside hoping for sales to drop and Crayola to take over. Thereby giving them a “sales profit loss” reason to discontinue production.

Amy
September 5th 2011

I completely agree these were great pencil crayons and there is absolutely no reason to discontinue these. Crayola has no good colours and break way too easily. I’m very sad to hear of their discontinuation, hopefully they’ll come up with some more great pencil crayons such as these. I searched everywhere and could not find them. Finally I came to see what was up.

Brenda
September 6th 2011

My son’s teacher complained about Staedtler pencil crayons she said they are too waxy and don’t give a deep color. After reading about complaints with the Crayola brand, what are we supposed to buy?

Bridget
November 5th 2011

Searched everywhere for Laurentiens and finally bought the Staedtler. My 10 year old is very disappointed with the feel, colour and finish. He wants his Laurentiens back, just like I had when I was a kid. He doesn’t want Crayola..
Why does all the good quality Canadian stuff disappear?!

me
November 24th 2011

i just bought 3 packs of 26 colors, i payed less than 5 dollars each, now that i know that they are discontinued, i will go get a few more packs, they should last me the rest of my life. i still have a pack of eight left from when i was a child, they are in a vinyl sleeve.

[…] so far to find it. This colour has a nice thicker formula and reminds us of the pencil crayon Laurentien French Green – which is just the colour we were going […]

Joanne
December 15th 2011

I can’t believe they were discontinued! They were the best pencil crayons ever made in Canada. This is a big disappointment!

helen nephin
January 13th 2012

I have always loved laurentian pencil crayons since I was in high school many, many years ago. I am now teaching a grade one class and I want to purchase these pencil crayons for my class. Can you inform me as to where I might be able to purchase these crayons as i am having difficulty finding a store that sells them purchasing these item. helen

Evan
February 21st 2012

I have a package of Laurentien pencil crayons. Whenever I sharpen one, it breaks. Horrible, just horrible. Not at all the quality that I remember as a child. Nostalgia or not, you can’t use something that doesn’t work.

Gail
February 26th 2012

I found my old pencil case from the 70’s and am enjoying using my Laurentian pencil crayons once again. But I am running out of colours and need to replenish!! I can’t find them anywhere. Please help. Could the person from item 28 “me” please let us know where they found them. I tried Prisma colour and Staedtler but they don’t measure up.

I too can not find Laurentian Pencil Crayons anywhere. The only ones I can find are from Crayola, and they break everytime I sharpen them. I draw and color the pics I do and press very hard to make the pick shiny, and believe me, you can’t do this with the Crayola Pencil Crayons !!! Bring Laurentian back……Please !!

I am an artist/educator who LOVES (and misses) the original Laurentien color pencils. I purchased a newer package of the American version recently – once I finally found them – and noticed the difference in my drawings immediately. My primary complaint is that the new ones are much too waxy and impossible to layer over each other more than once! They burnish way too fast and this makes if difficult for me to build up the colors I need when doing realistic portrait work. You can imagine my thrill when I found a 29 year old plastic package of 12 Laurentien’s for sale in an obscure hardware store in the middle of no where yesterday. I decided to do a comparison test and…guess what? The Canadian made colored pencils were as good as I remembered. I wasn’t imagining the difference. Thank you FABER CASTELL, maker of my new old Venus Laurentiens!

Elizabeth
August 10th 2012

I too need to find them in Canada. I looked in 5- 6 main stores in Ontario and can’t find them. Where can we find them for this school year?

Elizabeth

Linda
August 18th 2012

My grandson is supposed to have Laurentian pencil crayons for school this year. I have looked everywhere in Moose Jaw and can only find Crayola and Staedtler. I guess the teacher will have to be satisfied with whatever with the Crayola pencil crayons. Or maybe I will have to dig through some of the old school supplies in the basement; I’m sure there are Laurentians here somewhere.

Lise
August 23rd 2012

Bring Laurentian crayons back! I used them when I was a child and same here, I had to buy the crayola ones for my son and I ended up buying 3 to 4 packs in just a few weeks or months because they used up so fast as they kept breaking when you would sharpenned them. I had finally found Laurentian ones and we did not have this problem. Now this year he needed some crayons, I’m staying away from crayola but have been told that they discontinued Laurentian pencils. So sad… Why is it that when we have something good they get rid of it. PLEASE BRING THEM BACK…

Stephanie
August 28th 2012

I have my grandfather’s Laurentian Pencil Crayons that he used. Only 5 of the 12 have been sharpened and they come in a plastic case with a snap. The packaging is Venus Pencil Company Ltd and they are called Laurentian (with an a not an e). He passed away in 1974-so I am assuming that they are fairly old. Anybody have any idea how old they would be ??

Nancy
August 28th 2012

Every year when school started my mom would always buy these. They were and still are my best pencil crayons. When I had kids of my own, I would always buy them when the school year started. Now for a couple of years your haven’t made any more. I keep asking the store’s that you had supplied with when you would be bring them back. I still have mine since I was in high school, but their getting smaller and I try only to use them for good project’s.
Laurentien pencil crayons are the best!!!!!!!!

Vinnie
September 19th 2012

Wow – I’m glad i came to this site. I’ve been keeping my eye out for Laurentien pencil crayons whenever I’m shopping but no luck! Now I know to stop my search! :( They were the BEST crayons ever! Every year I’d buy new packs for my kids and the old ones went into a metal cookie box for home and to work on homework projects! Certainly they were of superior quality then anything on the market now and over the years. I guess we must watch our garage sales and Value Villages for any still kicking around!

[…] to get my own set. When I was in junior high, I remember getting a booklet promoting a contest by Canada’s Laurentian pencil crayons, with elaborate example drawings. I would study it, imagining what I could draw, though I never did […]

Sabrina
November 2nd 2012

My son loves Laurentian Pencil and now they dont sell them anymore,he got him self a few packs…I newer liket them,my fav.are Caran D`Ache (swiss made) from Prismalo Aquarelle.Those are Watersoluble Pencils,you can draw and then use a brush or q-tip with water same effect as watercollors.I grew up with them back in swizzerland they only use those in school.Pretty expensive but lasting long and dont brake easely.

johanna kort
November 3rd 2012

Hi, I just wanted to mention I bought a huge pack of laurentien pencil crayons for my grandchildren. I have used these since i was in school and they were the best. Well today I am very dissapointed. I was sharpening the pencils and what i ended up with were stubs. Every time i got it sharpened the lead came out. it was as though the lead was broken all they way down the pencil. Very dissapointed Nana.

Tamara
November 30th 2012

Is there any place on the planet where I can buy these pencils?

Julie McCutcheon
December 17th 2012

Can I buy poppy red pencils on their own because we wear them out extremely quickly and we have to buy alot of new packs and then have way too many colouring pencils in all the other colours!!!!

Maureen
February 28th 2013

I love these pencils also, if anyone anywhere know of a place where I can buy them, live in stratford, ont. and would love to get my hands on them.

katherine
March 4th 2013

I work on a reserve school where supplies are in limited amounts. I would like to know where I could get donations of pencil crayons for our students needs. My students use the pencil crayons to the point where we can not sharpen them any more. We are in need of your companies support in this matter.Teacher Katherine

katherine
March 5th 2013

Wed have 250 students on the reserve that could use your donation. Thanks Katherine

Sandra
March 7th 2013

I Live in Red Deer, AB, and I too would like to purchase some Laurentien pencil crayons. I’m confused about whether or not they are still available. Does anyone know of an online source?
Thanks for your help.

me, item 28
March 15th 2013

i got them at a pharmacy in richmond county cape breton, in a small community, they were on sale, i bough out his stock.

Pauline O'Regan
March 26th 2013

I bought a 24 pack of Laurentien pencil crayons and they keep breaking. I even bought the suggested sharpener for them and still they continue to crack and break. What can be done about this?

John Lasruk
April 22nd 2013

I designed Sanford’s Laurentien pencils packaging for a number of years.Coloured pencils are expensive to manufacture and if you want super quality, they can be horrendously so. (Check out the price of a box of 72 Prismacolors or Derwent pencils at an art supply store.) They often break because the sharpeners most people use are dull. Furthermore, in order to get decent colour strength, the leads have to be a lot softer than a standard pencil lead. I recently tried to sharpen a high quality “professoinal” grade coloured pencil using my fancy-dancy electric sharpener. The pencil kept breaking along its entire length until it was just a nub that happened to have cost me in excess of two bucks.

Do you have any sketches, or pics of the work you did with Laurentian?

Diana Scott
May 3rd 2013

To whom it may concern,

I am volunteering on my son’s Grade 8 Graduation committee. This year we are putting together loop bags for the 46 grade 8 student s (even split of boys and girls), wondering if Laurentien Pencils is willing to make a donation of small
item(s) to make this year’s Graduation a success. Any size donation would be appreciated.

Thank you for your consideration,

Diana Scott
(905) 713-9321

Bobby
June 17th 2013

I live in leduc. Alberta I have 2packs of 30 crayons in original packs never sharpened. They are over 30years old anyone no if they have any value. Or most of all do they have led in them. I have over 50that are sharpened and my girls play with them and sometimes go in the mouth

We would love to include one of your sets in our permanent collection. Up for donating these to the Canadian Design Resource.

TF CDR

Flatlander
November 28th 2013

I JUST PURCHASED a 24 pack of LAURENTIEN colored pencils TODAY from my local Super Thrifty Drug store – $5.99 for the pack. There were 3 other packs there on the rack. Also, the website on the back of the pack says to go to “laurentien.com” but that URL is no longer working….is it possible that this drugstore has had these packs on their shelves for over 5 years?? The package is in excellent condition – no signs of dust or age….I wonder….

Karen
December 4th 2014

I have used the original Laurentian pencil crayons all through my elementary school days from the late 50s until the 60s and loved them! My Mother would always ensure that I had an adequate supply as I used them constantly for any school projects, art and the like. The colours were phenomenal and very seldom did the leads break. Mine simply wore down through enthusiastic use!
I was saddened to see that the original formulas were changed and that the quality has suffered. If something is that good, then why change it? Surely, it cannot be a declining market for there will always be children who need good quality, pencil crayons. Also,do not forget the baby boomers, like myself, who would love to have these as a reminder of nostalgic times.
I recently have been trying to find some more to purchase and sadly, have not found any, here in Ontario.
If anyone out there knows where the originals can be purchased here in Ontario, please share that with me.